Artemis II Flight Endures Toilet Problem Hours After Takeoff

The astronauts on the Artemis II mission experienced some potty troubles just hours after takeoff Wednesday ... forcing them to hold number 1 or use a backup system until the issue was fixed.

Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch -- the only woman onboard the 10-day mission -- first reported the issue to mission control when she noticed a blinking fault light, per Space.com. Norm Knight, NASA's director of flight operations, told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center the malfunction was due to a controller issue on the toilet.

Meanwhile, NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during live mission commentary that the toilet fan was jammed.

The issue shut down the urine collection portion of the one-of-a-kind toilet aboard the Orion spacecraft ... forcing the crew to use a backup system. However, NASA confirmed they could still go number 2 with no troubles.

Luckily, after a few hours, the problem was fixed ... and astronauts could finally get back to their toilet business as planned.

This mission to fly by the moon marks the first time a real toilet has been used for such an expedition -- the Apollo missions in the 1960s and '70s, for instance, did not have a toilet or even a designated bathroom area on board. Astronauts simply used waste collection bags ... and then left those bags in space to reduce mass and contamination risks.

The toilet on board the 330 cubic-foot Orion -- called the Universal Waste Management System -- even comes with a door. The toilet has a funnel attached to a hose for urine, which is then vented out from the aircraft.